This is the month that we should begin to feed and build up our bees,
especially our weak colonies, and to get them ready for the honey
harvest. Commence by giving them one half pint thin sugar syrup each
day; do not feed them in the daytime, feed them at night and they will
have all the feed taken down before the next morning. This will start
them to rearing brood rapidly and by the time the honey harvest arrives
they will be strong and overflowing with bees ready for it. Make but a
limited number of swarms and make them strong and early. Late natural
swarms should be returned to the parent hive, about twenty-four hours
after hiving them. The colonies that work freely on red clover should be
used as breeders in preference to others as the tongues of these bees
are evidently longer.
The old queen always goes with the first swarm unless she is unable to
fly. When making artificial swarms raise your queens and drones from the
best colonies. A queenless colony will raise queens at once if it has
larvae less than three days old and these queens will hatch within 10
to 12 days. If you give your bees a good supply of empty combs before
the beginning of the honey crop and keep them at work they will rarely
swarm. But if they once find themselves crowded and get the swarming
fever, nothing will keep them from swarming. The honey harvest lasts but
a few weeks, so you must be ready for it. “Make hay while the sun
shines.” When hiving a swarm give them a hive full of worker comb, or
comb foundation if possible, or else give them narrow stripes for
guides, but do not give them a hive partly filled with comb, as they
would be sure to build a great deal of drone comb in the remaining
space.